It's that time of year, folks, when the geek Mecca that is San Diego Comic-Con opens its doors and gives us a rundown of what's coming up in the worlds of film, TV and other entertainment. The dust has barely settled (it ran from July 21st-24th) but it's given us a lot to talk about.
So here's a quick round-up of some of the biggest news.
After the lukewarm reception that Batman V Superman got, DC may have felt like they had a bit of an uphill battle to get people onboard for their next movies. Well, mission well and truly achieved as even the most petulant and hard-to-please fanboys couldn't help but be blown away by what DC had to show.
Whilst Marvel discussed several of their upcoming properties, DC focused on the ones that are closest at hand. DC also made a very canny move by officially releasing the three trailers they showed straight away, ready for public consumption.
The first was a trailer for Suicide Squad, which gives a few good lines to Will Smith and a few laughs for Jai Courteney:
There was also a first-look trailer for Wonder Woman, which was seriously good. Gal Gadot was easily the best thing about Batman V Superman and- if the trailer is anything to go by- her dignified and strong performance will continue. You also get to see Chris Pine as Steve Trevor and the final electric violin sting at the end of the trailer is just sublime.
Finally, and the biggest news, there was a trailer for Justice League. It shows Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) visiting both Arthur Curry/Aquaman and Barry Allen/The Flash to recruit them. There's a brief appearance by Cyborg towards the end but no Superman- not surprising, really. Ezra Miller really impresses as The Flash, and there's some nice little moments of humour which helps to lift things.
Marvel had a lot of information to impart, although- unlike DC- a lot of the footage hasn't been officially released. An enhanced Doctor Strange trailer was one of two videos put out by Marvel but footage from Thor: Ragnarok (a mockumentary over what Thor and Hulk have been doing since Age Of Ultron), Spider-Man: Homecoming and Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2 still remain (at the moment, at least) Comic-Con exclusives.
The Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2 footage confirms a few pieces of rumoured casting - it was announced a while ago that Kurt Russell would be joining the cast and immediately the rumour mill went into overdrive that he'd be playing Star-Lord's father. Well, as usual, the rumour mill was right- Russell is playing Ego (a living planet who took human form and then knocked up Star-Lord's mum). The footage also shows Sylvester Stallone in a small role.
Speaking of the rumour mill being right, it was also confirmed that this year's Best Actress Oscar winner Brie Larson has been cast as Captain Marvel for the 2018 film (although she may appear in an earlier film as Spider-Man and Black Panther have; if that's the case, she'll probably be seen in Infinity War). Rumours of Larson's casting started several months ago, and I think this is a strong piece of casting.
There was some further casting announced for Black Panther, with Creed star Michael B. Jordan, The Walking Dead's Danai Gurira and Oscar winner Lupita Nyong'o joining Chadwick Boseman for the film, directed by Ryan Coogler. Jordan will play Erik Killmonger, Nyong'o will play Nakia and Gurira will play Okoye.
Finally, concept art from Spider-Man: Homecoming reveals that the main villain for the film will be The Vulture:
Away from the comic book franchises, we were treated to some other top-quality trailers, including one for the surprise sequel to The Blair Witch Project- originally filmed under the generic title of The Woods, but now titled Blair Witch- which goes back to the found-footage format and is genuinely atmospheric and not a little creepy. Directed by Adam Winguard (You're Next, The Guest), the film is due for release very soon.
There were also trailers for Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, Kong: Skull Island, Guy Ritchie's new take on King Arthur and the Batman Lego Movie.
There was also a special panel to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Aliens, attended by James Cameron, Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn, Bill Paxton and Lance Henriksen.
In terms of TV, trailers for Iron Fist, Luke Cage and The Defenders were aired, plus it was announced that Netflix's Daredevil was renewed for a third season. Bryan Fuller's new Star Trek series- now titled Star Trek: Discovery- had a teaser trailer too.
There were also trailers for the seventh season of Game Of Thrones, the fourth series of Sherlock, the Starz adaptation of Neil Gaiman's American Gods (which looks seriously brilliant) and a very interesting piece of casting news that Rihanna will be appearing in the final season of the Psycho prequel Bates Motel... as Marion Crane!
So a lot of good stuff coming our way over the next few years.
